Girl Scouts to participate in Frontier Fort Day

Published 5:00 pm, Monday, May 9, 2011

As her peers finished measuring and cutting fabric around her one evening, Mercedes Serio leaned in to get a closer view and added the first row of stitching to her skirt.

The Juliette Troop 210 member said she hadn't had much experience sewing -- or doing any other frontier-era activity -- before the group embarked on their list of projects this year. Now, she said, pausing as she stopped the sewing machine at a recent meeting, she's hoping she knows enough to share her skills with others.

She'll be one of several girls from the troop to participate in a Frontier Fort Day this Saturday at the Commemorative Air Force Museum. The group will set up along with war re-enactors and teach activities such as soap making, sewing and playing games from decades ago, said Margaret Peterson, who leads the troop.

"I think they learned an incredible amount," Peterson said, of her troop. "Last month, with the sewing, that was really rewarding. Some of them with great trepidation were approaching it, but I think all of them were successfully able to make a skirt."

Jeff Wood, director of the museum, said they've long had a partnership with the Boy Scouts and were glad to find a way to work with the Girl Scouts, too. He said they're setting up the re-enactment day toward the front of the museum grounds and are hoping it gives the public an opportunity to take part in historical activities. In addition to Saturday's event, the re-enactors and a few of the Girl Scouts also will host an event Friday to provide lessons for area school groups, he said. The re-enactors will set up camps just like ones that once were lived in, have stations telling students about what life was like during America's war with the Native Americans and during the pre-Civil War era and also will have horses, cannons and other props to help bring history to life.

"It's a new thing, and we're hoping that it really works out because we really like having a partnership with the Girl Scouts," Wood said. "It's not really World War II, but it has a lot of the historical events that we think will work out really well."

Janet Taylor, who also helps lead the troop, said the Juliettes started meeting to provide an opportunity for girls who don't have a home troop to still participate in Girl Scouts. The group meets once a month and involves girls from kindergarten through 12th grades as well as their moms or another adult willing to participate with them.

This year, Peterson said, they thought it would be fun to learn about activities from the 1800s and crafted a program that would fit into the journey curriculum used by the Girl Scouts. In hosting an event for the public at the end, Taylor said the girls would be able to learn some fun skills, figure out how to function as a group and contribute something to the community around them.

"It's all about learning to work as a team and doing something for the community," Taylor said.

Amanda Bledsoe, who attends the troop with her 11-year-old daughter Haylee, said they love the format of the Juliettes because it's flexible and it lets them spend some time together. Bledsoe said her daughter tends toward the shy side but has been able to make some great friends and come out of her shell at Girl Scouts.

"We just love it, and we get some good mother-daughter time," Bledsoe said.

Haylee and she were working to measure fabric for the 11-year-old's skirt last month and said each of the activities they've done this year has been a neat experience. "They're all very different," Bledsoe said.

Vangi Peek said they've enjoyed the troop because it allows her girls to attend Scouts together despite being different ages.

Most of the girls said they never had thought about trying to make soap, put together a rag doll or sew their own skirt before. But, they said now that they know it's possible they're excited to show others what they've learned.